When are you most productive?
After many recommendations, I've started the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss.
It's making me think about when I'm most productive each day and the funk I've been in since the pandemic began. Typically, I'm most productive between 8-11 am. But over the last 2 years, my productivity drops sharply after lunch.
I used to feel energized for most of the day, cranking from 8 - 4 pm each day and then a few hours each night. But ever since covid arrived, it's like my motivation has been zapped and I just slog through the afternoon and don't do much evening.
I love working around people and now I work at home, which I think could be a contributing factor. I also started talking to a therapist because I feel crappy about myself that I can't work like I used to. I'm excited to finish this book as Tim's already helping me reframe some things I've felt guilty about.
Anyone else struggling with this? When are you most productive and how do you maximize your productivity?
Many thanks for your thoughts.
👋 2 key behaviors really helped me maximize my productivity:
Identifying my optimal deep work time and length. For me, it's 3 hours with a 5 minute break every hour. Over this 3 hour period, it's like I'm in a flow state. There are no distractions and I'm moving through my goals swiftly and efficiently.
Defining meaningful splits in the day. I split my day into 3's: Sidekick time (my app), full-time time (my full time job), and me time (health, self-care, family/friends). I find the morning the most productive so first, I do Sidekick time -> full time job -> me time is all the way from 5pm to bedtime.
Finding my productivity groove took a bit and is different for everyone. So I would definitely experiment and reflect. If you're looking for more books to read, I would recommend Cal Newport's "Deep Work." It's a great read and has a lot of insightful nuggets in there!
Good luck!
Thanks, @allison_mui! This is great. Deep work is a new concept to me but I know what you mean when you say flow state. It's like a groove where I'm feeling good about myself and crushing work :)
Was wondering how you identified your optimal deep work time? Any specific nugget from that Cal Newport's book you like? I've added it to my reading list!
Thanks again.
I did a lot of experimentation to find my optimal deep work time. I started out with the 'most' I thought I could do (6) and then adjusted from there.
I'm a fan of the:
I wrote an article about applying some of the insights (shameless plug haha but it has more information than I can write about here) - maybe you'd be interested in checking it out?
https://medium.com/the-sidekick-app/how-to-apply-cal-newports-deep-work-in-everyday-life-c8b5ad0bd5c8
Hi Pat 👋
I've been struggling with this when I was still employed as a software engineer and I realised I mostly am productive in the morning as well.
Here is my mind setup to keep doing things and avoid procrastination in the day:
Like you, I've the feeling I'm more and more tired in the afternoon and I cannot get much done, but this setup help me feel like I'm still achieving great results and I actually felt more productive than ever.
As always, the hard part is keeping up with it for a long period of time so it becomes an habit.
As a side not: don't feel bad for not being productive for some time. It happens and pushing yourself too hard over this can lead to high mental load and burnin/burnout, I know that by experience and it's an easy trip to fall in 😅
Thank you! Glad to know I"m not alone in feeling like this and that you've found something that works well for you! I'm definitely going to look into Sunsama. Thanks again for sharing.
Hi Pat,
I have a pretty unconventional work schedule. It works for me because I can work flexible hours and don't have kids that need to go to school in the morning.
I wake up pretty late and don't do much work before midday. Most of my work either happens between 12 and 2-3pm or late at night between 8pm and 1am.
My schedule isn't very strict or rigid at the moment. However, that's something I want to change this year. For example, implement a strict wake up time and prescheduled work and fitness sessions.
I've been waking up at 7 am this whole week, drinking water, and going straight on a walk and I've felt much better for it. Have you read the Miracle Morning by chance? Great book on how mornings set our bearings for the day. I recall enjoying it but have fell out of some of the habits he shares in the book.
I have, actually. Listened to the audiobook last year.
I have a simple routine I do each day but it's not much of a morning routine if my day doesn't really start until 11am.
Will definitely try to wake up earlier again. On the rare occasions I wake up before 8am it feels so good because of how much I manage to accomplish before noon.
Have you tried to open videochats when people are just sitting and working? Like Zoom, but in desktop. Maybe this will contribute to your productivity
I haven't tried that. Do you mean just leaving the camera on while people are there to watch? That may indeed spur some productivity at least for some bursts.
In reverse: you can leave your camera switched off, but you can open a site where people are currently working with their cameras on.
So it feels like Zoom and being surrounded by people, but you don't communicate with them actually
In a public café after a working out session ended with a cold shower.
Having had 8+ of sleep the night before helps drastically too.
Bonus points if I take my nootropics stack
Happens too rarely unfortunately